Rubber Bands On A Soap Dish: What It's For And Why It's Recommended

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Even a nice soap dish can leave your fancy bar mushy if the water doesn't drain well and its design impedes airflow. And nobody enjoys picking up a bar that's gone soft and slimy. Worse, your constantly wet bar will slide around when you try to grab it. The fix? Stretch a few rubber bands across your soap dish. This cheap and low effort hack is recommended because the rubber bands will hoist your bar of soap so it won't be sitting in a puddle of water endlessly, even if your dish doesn't drain well. Bonus advantage: A bar that's allowed to dry between uses will last longer, giving you a bigger bang for your buck. You'll also avoid the annoying problem of it sliding around endlessly at the bottom of the dish.

Besides, as the bar won't be flush with your soap dish, you won't have to zap away stubborn soap scum from it, either. Using the bands also means you don't have to spend time or money finding a dish that drains well. You can simply buy one that is more aesthetic than functional and still make it work. Don't have a dish handy? Use an old plastic lid for organizing clutter in your bathroom, such as soap that needs storage.

To try this hack at home, all you need is a clean, empty dish and a handful of sturdy rubber bands. If you don't have any lying around, your old hair ties you're bored of will work as well. But if you don't mind buying some, try getting silicone ones, like QfwdfcTrenz's 3-inch Wide Rubber Bands. Because silicone bands are washable and reusable, they may hold up better for regular use. Once you have the required bands, stretch two thick pieces across the top of your soap dish so they cross in the middle, then put the bar on them (after rinsing away residue from used ones). Alternatively, run the two bands vertically and parallel to each other (recommended for built-in dishes), stretching them tight so they hold the soap better. For bigger bars, take three to four bands and place them in a grid pattern.

That being said, keep in mind that rubber bands won't last forever. Once they start to feel stretched out, brittle, or sticky, or if they snap, swap in a fresh pair. The same trick also works by the kitchen sink, where a bar of hand soap tends to get just as mushy. Moreover, remember that if your dish has no drainage slots, the runoff will collect in the bottom of the dish instead of around the soap. So, dump and rinse it every few days for hygiene purposes (bacteria love to breed in moist environments). And if you have added a soap dish to a tile shower, the runoff will simply rinse down the wall and into the drain with your next shower, so there's nothing to empty by hand.